Patterson Pass Road Race Report (45+ 4s) August 8, 2010

Patterson Pass Road Race Report
45+ Cat 4 ~ August 8, 2010
By Scott Martin

After getting schooled at the Masters Districts RR a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to one of the 50+ hotshots. "You have to know how to suffer to do well here," he said.

So I thought what better way to practice my suffering than signing up for Patterson Pass, a hilly road race that climbs "O My God" Road (photo). So named because after ascending for about a decade you crest a steep section and see that the summit is still a long ways off and some witty person has painted "O My God" on the pavement.

As usual there is a strong headwind on the first of 2 trips up O My God, which keeps the speedsters in check. As usual the real action comes on the second, smaller climb where a tailwind makes drafting kind of worthless. I survive, barely, and we start the second lap. Again, no fireworks on O My God. So we come to the second, smaller climb and I am ready to practice my suffering.

I suffer like crazy but 10 guys are riding away from me on the last little bump. I am now like one of those domestiques who blows up on the big mountain passes. I practically come to a halt. I can hear some chasers behind me, so I ramp it up from 2 mph to 3 mph and latch on. Then we descend like crazy and actually catch the leaders who don't seem very organized.

Then some guy gets a blow-out in a corner and again we are chasing, which is something I have a lot of practice doing. We catch the leaders on the last hill and for some reason they don't attack. So we come into the sprint and I find myself behind a strong Cal Giant guy and I'm thinking, "This is a berry good wheel." So he goes fast and I go fast and he ends up second and I end up third.

Bob Montague does a great job to finish in a chase group on a course that maybe doesn't suit his strengths. But aftward he is vowing to get revenge on the "skinny liittle climber dudes" at next week's flatter Dunnigan Hills RR and I am glad I won't be there to suffer the Wrath of Bob.